Tragically I Was an Only Twin: The Comedy of Peter Cook (Hardcover)

I love Derek and Clive, Pete and Dud and the latter Cook material such as the Sven phone calls, the Why Bother material with Chris Morris and the Clive Anderson interviews.

I don't like the earlier Fringe and EL Wisty stuff which I find formulaic, repetitive and I just don't see the humour.

So I half enjoyed this book; it's basically a collection of scripts and writings spanning Peter's varied career, right from the stuff he did at University and later at the Secret Policeman's Ball with John Bird, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett et al through to the stuff he did towards the end of his life, like the 12 Days of Christmas on radio and the Clive Anderson show in TV, with his long partnership with Dudley Moore and his founding of Private Eye in the middle.

A good cross section of Peter Cook's work is covered, so there should be something in there for everyone - the Clive Anderson/Chris Morris/Sven stuff are, I think, some of Peter Cook's very best and funniest performances and they're not so easy to come by.

Each chapter of Peter's career and writings is introduced with a short biographical passage giving the reader a little background on Peter's life at the time. It covers his relationships with the various people he worked with, his motivations, the influence he's had on other comedians etc. I found it interesting but I suspect it might not satisfy die hard Peter Cook fans who want more in depth insights into the man. It covers things like why he opened a satire club, his own reflections on how he used his comedy to victimise Dudley Moore, etc.

It's OK. The biographical stuff I can take or leave, but some of the scripts are fantastic and show just how clever Cook was - he comes across almost like a Miles Davis of comedy - exploring and pushing the boundaries of his art and often not even knowing himself where he might go next.

As William Cook points out in his perceptive Introduction, "Cook was a miniaturist. His speciality was a conversation of only several minutes duration. His quick-fire creativity didn't lend itself to longer, more structured genres". Consequently, his best work was done in cooperation with others. For instance, although Cook wrote about two-thirds of the script for "Beyond the Fringe", the result would not have been nearly as entertaining without the contributions of Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore. Like a powerful spirit, Cook's wit was potent - but perhaps best when diluted even slightly.

This book is a fine collection of Cook's work, together with a good deal of information about his life. It is, however, far from "complete", although approaching this goal more closely in the later years when Cook's output was much reduced. It makes a great companion to Harry Thompson's biography of the great man.